Multi-scoped infrastructuring: Forming a knowledge infrastructure for ILTER Network
Academy of Finland project (1/2016 - 8/2018)
PI: Prof. Helena Karasti (University of Oulu)
Project manager: Dr. Tonja Molin-Juustila
Researchers: Dr. Andrea Botero, Dr. Karen Baker, Dr. Elena Parmiggiani, Dr. Joanna Saad-Sulonen
Contact Information
Helena Karasti (firstname.lastname AT oulu.fi)
Tonja Molin-Juustila (firstname.lastname AT oulu.fi)
Description
Large-scale networked research requires knowledge infrastructures that support scientific collaboration. The aim of this study is to develop new multi-scoped alternatives for the investigation and formation of large-scale research infrastructures, since traditional, short-term and small-scale oriented methods and concepts have become criticized as inadequate.
We empirically investigate the formation of knowledge infrastructure within International Long Term Ecological Research (ILTER) network by focusing on the Finnish Long-Term Socio-Ecological Research (FinLTSER) network, the Norwegian Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER Norway) network, and the United States Long-Term Ecological Research (US LTER) network. In the European RI scene, of particular interest are ongoing developments in European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures (ESRFI). In addition to conducting fieldwork, we continue to analyze previously collected materials of the Shortgrass Steppe Long-Term Ecological Research (SGS-LTER) site of the US LTER network. Based on these studies (together with our extensive prior experience with LTER networks in the past), we work towards a methodological approach capable of constructing the empirical field for an emerging phenomenon under inquiry and a new conceptual understanding of ‘multi-scoped infrastructuring’.
Our interdisciplinary research combines ethnography, anthropology, science and technology studies, information studies, and those traditions of Information Systems (IS) that have studied information infrastructures and infrastructuring, including Participatory Design (PD) and Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW).